Cubitts glasses online: Brunswick, Herbrand and Wicklow

After having taken a bit of breather, EWG returns to find some interesting trends in the world of glasses. There suddenly appear to be quite a few websites, sometimes with a physical shop like Playn Eyewear, offering very good value, quality specs for around the £100 mark.

Cubitts has caught my eye: good Italian acetate, pin drilling, barrel hinges, decent lenses... the list goes on! And as is fairly typical for online sellers now, you get to choose up to four pairs in a home trial, before you choose the frame you really fancy. Above is Brunswick, left is Herbrand and below is Wicklow.

Playn Eyewear at Shoreditch Boxpark

If you've never bought a pair of glasses from a shipping container, now might be your chance. Boxpark in Shoreditch is a collection of pop-up shops assembled like Lego near the Overground station. There, until 24 November, is Playn Eyewear, a lovely collection of good-quality acetate frames. It's not an opticians though, so have your prescription at the ready and get a decent pair of specs, fully glazed, all good quality for £125. Oh and if you can't get along to Shoredicth in the next three weeks, you can do it all online: Playn Eyewear. Playn simple!

London Retro adds frames and Element line for 2012

London Retro has released new styles for 2012, adding to the frame collection launched last year. And alongside London Retro, also available from Glasses Direct, is Element (top picture), an eco-conscious range created from acetate off-cuts and recycled metals.

These fashion conscious frames won't break the bank either, priced at £99 including single-vision lenses.

Introducing Shauns Shades: buy one, give sight

These classy sunglasses are by a new brand, Shauns Shades, which has a generous business model  whereby for every pair purchased, one of the 285 million people in the world with sight problems will receive a pair of glasses, as part of its “buy one, give sight” mission.

California-based Scottish designer Shaun Paterson explains: "My vision has never caused me any issue in any way. Like many others, I use a simple lens to correct for my natural vision problems. However, if like many millions of those in need, I had been born in an area with no access to eye health care and glasses, I would be legally blind."

Note the signature Braille "S" on the frame front. The shades feature Carl Zeiss lenses and are available with free shipping in the US and the UK. Price start at £115 or $160.

London Retro launches with exclusive web collection

Invitations to new eyewear brand launches in London are few and far between so I went along to the Zigfrid Von Underbelly bar this week with a skip in my step.

London Retro is quite an accurate description as brand names go: nine classic styles with names like Fitzrovia (top), Shoreditch (second down), Queens (third), and Portobello (above on him, with Shoreditch on her). Finally Sam and Jodie, at the launch party, wear Queens (far left) and Carnaby (left)

What is decidedly modern, however, is that London Retro is exclusively available online. The spectacle collection comes from Glasses Direct, the UK online retailer, and every London Retro frame is £99, including single-vision lenses. The collection looks good: lots of colour choice and it comes with a suitably retro case.

Hyde's Spectacles launches online sunglass shop

Hyde's Spectacles launched last year in Sweden with a sunglass collection and it has now got a online shop selling its sunglasses and some jewellery too.

Featured here, top to bottom, are No. 3, No. 1,  No. 9 (right) and No.5

Hyde's "Enjoy the Walk of Shame" commercial is below...

Hyde's online store accepts US dollar, GB pounds, Euros and Swedish krona...

Polinelli sunglasses from Lunettes Brillenagentur in Berlin

Italian eyewear designer Ricardo Polinelli launched Polinelli Occhiali in the late 1970s. This looks like a vintage pair from around that time, perhaps 1980s. I love the octagonal corners.

With thanks to Thomas Angermann for the picture. He bought them from Lunettes Brillenagentur in Berlin, which also has a rather brilliant Lunettes Online Shop for classic, never-worn, vintage eyewear.